nuKorean cinema

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I have enjoyed:

Old Boy
Shiri
Memories of A Murder

and am about to watch

Into The Mirror

recommend me some more / critique / enquire

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Friday, 8 July 2005 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, and R-Point looks good.

http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/cgi-bin/film-view.cgi?filmid=30

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Friday, 8 July 2005 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

someone tell me what's worth seeing here

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 8 July 2005 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

oh!! Another Public Enemy is playing at my local film fest as well. That looks pretty good, too.

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Friday, 8 July 2005 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

OldBoy was very disappointing.

Anyone seen the Korean Saving Private Ryan - Tae Guk Gi (I think)?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 9 July 2005 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't like Old Boy too much either.
My Sassy Girl is a good one.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 9 July 2005 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

someone tell me what's worth seeing here

GO SEE THREE EXTREMES if you want to see a really attentively-made movie designed to turn the collective stomach of the audience. One of my friends can't stop talking about how incredible it is, but refuses in disgust to ever see it again.

I also really liked Spin Kick in spite of the fact that it's basically Necessary Roughness only with Tae Kwon Do. Actually, maybe because of it.

I rented Some recently and remember absolutely nothing else about it.

― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Saturday, 9 July 2005 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Memories of Murder is great. I think it's opening in New York next week.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 9 July 2005 06:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Shuddup, Old Boy rocks.

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 9 July 2005 08:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone seen the Korean Saving Private Ryan - Tae Guk Gi (I think)?

awful. melodramatic. bad acting. bad script. the final third of the movie was absurd. rent it though. kinda crazy bloody battle scenes.

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 9 July 2005 11:27 (twenty-one years ago)

memories of murder is astonishing. it veers between unbearably intense drama and disturbingly dark humor--actually it doesn't really "veer between," it sort of stays in both registers at once.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 9 July 2005 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

has anyone seen a bittersweet life? the trailer looks very, very promising

― fe zaffe (fezaffe), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

this sounds stupid but i think that combination of squeamish making violence and sweet classical music is really really sort of....powerful, or something. its really impressive, as in, it leaves a strong impressive. that film looks pretty good.

has there been discussion of 3-iron on ILX?im waiting for it to come on at my local, is it worth the wait?

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Tae Guk Gi wasn't that great.

― Tinman: Set to Self-Destruct (cprek), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=27

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

3-Iron, which I sort of think of as the Korean equiv of Sixth Sense, was long and pointless but very pretty. What's fascinating about it to me, more than the drama, is the sort of anthropological observation of how obviously comparable middle-class Korean life seems with mid-Western middle-class life in the US.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

sixth sense?!?!?! shit, i thought it was something to do with seducing burglars hitting golf balls at people

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe I should put a SPOILER on this, but there's something of an "um, maybe he's dead? maybe he's a ghost?" factor to the movie that's pretty obvious from very early on.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i have to agree there. the movie was far too long but i suppose i mostly enjoyed it. i would have enjoyed it more had it been stripped right down - there's so much that shouldn't be there. The confusing thing about watching it is that initially the director seems quite adept at telling a story without words so it seems like it's going to be quite concise and poetic but after that good start he goes off on so many tangents and loses his grip on the film. considering how visually confident the opeining section is it's baffling that he resorts to lines in the last section of the film like (Husband) "you know since last night i have felt like there's someone else here in the house" em.... uhuh, we got that bit. also, even though it's quite well set up he botches the key scene where the husband and wife embrace and the wife kisses the "ghost" over her shoulder, it's just so clumsily executed.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

apart from that i liked it!

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

ok now i want to see it again. pointless is as good review as i need!

i want to see a sassy girl, theyve had 2 korean seasons in leeds in the last year and ive missed the entire lot :S

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone seen the Korean Saving Private Ryan - Tae Guk Gi (I think)?
Takeguchi was pretty damn good, contrary to what Phil-two is trying push. Much better than that Hollywood bullshit Private Ryan. There's a scene where a guy gets eviscerated. Medics put back the guts but it gets a maggot infestation. Prime shit. Some other parts are very Deerhunter-like.

Other Korean movies that are good include:
Bungee Jumping on their Own
Samaritan Girl
The Isle

Right now, the Korean movie scene is much mroe alive than the Hong Kong scene.

― My Life in Pusan, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Tale of Two Sisters: Very good horror/psych/thriller, really clever.
Failan: This was good, but I'm not exactly sure what I took away from it (probably a Good Thing). Damn good acting from Min-sik Choi though.

― sleep (sleep), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

ok ive seen a bittersweet life now, in cinema no less. its the meanest, most stylish gangster film since brother, possibly ever. pulls absolutely no punches. the trailer is a bit of an understatement really

― fe7 (FE7), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

oh and could you all please remember the name BYUNG-HUN LEE

http://photo.hankooki.com/gisaphoto/20050331/vnok200503311934360K03310124Twist.jpg

because hes something like the new alain delon (he was in jsa and 3-iron as well)

― fe7 (FE7), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

oh wow. that looks incredible.

― sleep (sleep), Monday, 15 August 2005 07:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance tonight and am v. conflicted about it. The photography and the color are beautiful but the violence is really sickening--it's one of the few movies I've seen that's made me feel physically ill--and I'm not sure if I think it's necessary or not. A lot of the reviews have praised the film's "humanity" but I don't know if I completely buy that. The violence certainly isn't glorified (or at least I didn't feel that way, I got the impression that other audience members at the screening were revelling in it) and that's partially due to the sheer brutality, which functions very differently than, say, Reservoir Dogs. *SPOILER* But there were scenes--the organ thief raping the anesthetized girl comes to find--that suggested Chan-wook was revelling in it as well. Despite, or perhaps because of, all this the film is incredibly compelling and I think I'm going to see Oldboy tommorow, which I haven't yet seen.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Friday, 26 August 2005 06:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I have "Oldboy" on preorder. Should I plan on watching it alone or with the wife? I'm particularly thinking about the octopus-eating scene.

(I realize the above reads like an elaborate straight line, but it's a real question.)

― M. V. (M.V.), Friday, 26 August 2005 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Arahan was a lot of fun, as I mentioned at the end of this thread last night. I didn't think Oldboy was all that gruesome, really. I didn't find the octopus-eating scene to be a gross-out, for example. If I remember correctly, the actual eating gets done very rapidly, and it's not hard to watch at all. In the course of the film, there is violence and torture and self-mutilation, but no depiction is as extreme as the violence in Ichi the Killer even (though the self-mutilation that occurs is basically the same event). The film is pretty stylized in its depiction of events, so I never felt that queasy feeling that one can get from watching naturalistic violence in films. It's clearly a fantasy, albeit a "gritty" one. At the end of the film, I didn't feel sickened or appalled, merely mystified as to what artistic purpose the movie was meant to serve. But YMMV, I suppose. How does your wife feel about the depiction of violence in normal action movies?

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 26 August 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw A Bittersweet Life the other night. I wanted to like it more than I did. Visually it was very polished, and I can see the comparisons to Alain Delon in Byung Hun-Lee's role. I just found myself quite detached from it - there was almost no outward emotion (although I understand much of it was inferred) or personality shown from any of the characters. It has the same sort of cold, brutal violence that's been seen in a lot of Korean films lately.

Also seen recently -

Fighter In The Wind - Ordinary bio-pic on a Korean fighter who made a name in post-war Japan. I knew nothing of him, but it didn't seemed authentic to me. Too glossy, not enough grit for such a story.

A Crying Fist - Another film about Korean fighters, and a much better one at that. More drama than boxing film, as such. Strong performance as usual from Choi Min-sik.

― Mil (Mil), Friday, 26 August 2005 23:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Can anyone recommend anything showing at the BAM thing that I linked to upthread?

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 27 August 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Can anyone recommend anything showing at the BAM thing linked upthread.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 27 August 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

whoops.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 27 August 2005 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

C0L1N I did not think it was possible for me to want to see Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance any more than I already did but your description makes it sound crazy that I think I'm more intrigued than ever! Unfortunately you've also probably convinced my girlfriend that she WON'T want to see it haha so I'm not sure I should thank you.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 27 August 2005 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, I'm sorry! I haven't seen Oldboy (I'm seeing it tonight, though. Obviously my sicko fascination outweighs my tasteful revulsion), Vengeance might not be any more violent.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 27 August 2005 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

But YMMV, I suppose. How does your wife feel about the depiction of violence in normal action movies?

Depends. The Mr.Blondtorturescop scene in Reservoir Dogs upset her, for instance. I alluded to the octopus-eating scene today, and she said she'd pass.

― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 27 August 2005 03:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh wow, I was really disapointed by Oldboy. It was formally very impressive (except for the bad knife-in-the-back CG), but pretty gimmicky. It just seemed a little too cool--super contrived thriller plot, impressive gadgetry. I mean I enjoyed watching it, but it didn't hit me nearly as hard as SFMV.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 27 August 2005 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Weird story: I saw Oldboy at the Imaginasian Theater on E.59th. At midnight, when the movie was supposed to start, the projectionist took the mic at the front of the theater and told us that he was just putting the film on the plate and that it would ten minutes. He started talking, killing time. Somebody yelled "tell a joke" and he launched into his own impromtu version of 'the aristocrats", which included dildo lightsabers. He finished the joke and concluded his speech by apologizing for the delay and assuring the audience that all of us could beat him up and had "bigger or dicks...or, uh, vaginas".

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Saturday, 27 August 2005 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Just finished watching Memories of Murder. It owns my soul.

― jeffrey (johnson), Monday, 29 August 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I really liked Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. It's much more conventional than Old Boy (plotting and just generally in terms setting, also less of the overdone symbolism although there is still plenty of that and tons of extra weirdness to boot) but at the same time obv it's the product of the same guy's mind (the two super-violent scenes provoke the same level of discomfort as their Old Boy versions.) I'm really excited for Sympathy for MRS(!!) Vengeance now.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

JOINT SECURITY AREA is quite good and a startling change of pace from Park's other films.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Is JSA worth watching on DVD? I can't imagine enjoying the other two nearly as much without the benefit of film + big screen.

I'm real excited to see Mrs. Vengeance at the NYFF.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I watched it on DVD and it's not one of those movies where it probably makes a huge difference (it's very well shot, but not as EXPLICITLY big screen as his other stuff.) It's NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING like the other two films. For the first 10 minutes I thought I was watching Rules of Engagement or The General's Daughter, but the twist the movie takes isn't weird (like OB or SFMV) at all, but instead rather tragic in a sadly too realistic way.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

old boy is fucking great

― rio natsume, Tuesday, 6 September 2005 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

Watched Oldboy last night. 3-Iron on the docket for tonight. Korea is the new Hong Kong, yeah? Or maybe the new France...

― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 24 September 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

nine months pass...

a bittersweet life is playing at the imaginasian tomorrow at 6. anyone want to go?

― sleep (sleep), Monday, 26 June 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

Really didn't like 2009: Lost Memories.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Monday, 26 June 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

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